Josep Soler was born in Barcelona in 1935, and is highly regarded among contemporary Catalan composers. Little in his piano music suggests the smoky syntax and brooding modality of his elder compatriots. Played in one continuous movement, his 1993 Third Sonata, subtitled “The Song of God”, evokes Alban Berg’s Sonata in a more rhapsodic, looseknit form. Berg’s compact chromaticism permeates the concise Baroque dance movements that make up the 1980 Partita. Likewise, the brief Sonata Fragment dating back to 1957/58 reveals Soler’s long held attraction to the Second Viennese School. Jordi Masó’s convincing, clear performances make the best possible case for this interesting, if not strikingly original body of work.
